BN's Victory In B/Pinang Inspires Party Members

PENANG, Oct 12 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in the by-election for the Bagan Pinang state seat in Negeri Sembilan yesterday has given a new inspiration to party members.

He hoped the win would encourage party members at all levels to work hard to achieve greater success in future.

Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad's success in defeating the PAS candidate, Zulkefly Mohamad Omar, with a majority of 5,435 votes showed that the people had more confidence and trust in the BN, the Prime Minister told reporters after meeting with Penang BN leaders, here Monday.

Najib said there were several factors that could have contributed to the BN success, including the government policies, the strength of the division and the candidate himself.

"It looks like they (the people) have more confidence and trust in the BN and this could be due to several factors which we can evaluate, whether the factor of government policies and changes made at the national level, the position of the division or the candidate himself, or a combination of the three factors," he said.

Najib, who is also the BN chairman, wanted all the component parties to carry out detailed studies on all factors for the victory or defeat of the party in any election so that it could become a guide for future polls.

"If we secure a big win, we must defend the victory, and if we lose, we must redeem the loss," he said.

He refuted the claim that the victory of the BN candidate purportedly showed that the BN condoned corrupt practices by party members.

He said he had already explained earlier that Mohd Isa had served his sentence and the offence that he had committed was not a criminal one but merely violating party ethics.

Najib's visit to Penang today was the first by him since assuming the post of Prime Minister. Besides meeting with the BN leaders here, his presence in the state was also to receive the Darjah Utama Pangkuan Negeri (DUPN), which carries the title Datuk Seri Utama, conferred by the Yang Dipertua Negeri, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas.